From the Kardashian Kard to Skims: Kim Kardashian West’s successful and failed businesses

Kim Kardashian West and her sisters Kourtney and Khloé Kardashian opened their first joint venture under the name of The Dash Boutique in Calabasas, California. The business, which operated for 12 years and stocked a wide selection of high-end clothing and accessories, catapulted the three sisters’ success. Kourtney, Kim, and Khloé also opened locations in Miami and New York City.

After naming her first solo venture Dashing (inspired by their boutique Dash), Kim’s first fragrance had a rocking start. Her sisters weren’t too happy with the selection, and Kim had to rename her fragrance to Kim Kardashian Eau De Parfum. The process of Kim’s first perfume is highly documented in Keeping Up with the Kardashians. The 41-year-old tv personality bottled fresh notes of jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, tonka bean, jacaranda wood, and sandalwood.

Kim partnered with Brian Lee, Robert Shapiro, and M.J. Eng to launch an online fashion subscription service. Through ShoeDazzle, Kim offered a curated selection of shoes, bags, and jewelry. For four years, the brand earned millions of dollars and later received an offer from fellow online fashion subscription service JustFab. In 2013, Kim and partners sold the business for an undisclosed amount.

The Kardashian Kard might surprise many people, mainly because it was one of Kim’s unsuccessful ventures. Kardashian launched a prepaid MasterCard, which never took off due to its high fees.

Kim launched her first jewelry line in collaboration with designer Pascal Mouawad, named Belle Noel and inspired in her middle name. Kardashian sold her line exclusively at Bloomingdales; however, it wasn’t a success.

Kim started collaborating again with her sisters and launched Khroma Beauty, a failed makeup line that later included haircare. After multiple lawsuits for copyright infringement, the brand had to be renamed Kardashian Beauty. Los Angeles-based beauty company Chroma Beauty and Florida-based company Kroma Beauty threatened to sue the sisters. According to consumers, the brand had low-quality ingredients, and the packaging looked cheap.

Kim Kardashian West started venturing into other areas and launched her first iOS and Android game. In Kim Kardashian, Hollywood players could secure virtual gigs like the ones Kim had in real life. From book modeling jobs to club appearances, players were able to do it all. The game attracted 23 million players and had a revenue of $43 million.

Kim released a coffee table photobook titled Selfish. The book had a comprehensive collection of Kardashian West’s unseen selfies.

Kardashian West launched Kimoji, an app with 250 emojis and GIFs, including Kim‘s ugly crying face. The app was a success and made millions of dollars. Kim also released merchandise.

Kim described herself as a perfumista and created KKW Fragrance. Based on her previous experiences, she continued growing her collection and launched three new scents – Crystal Gardenia, Crystal Gardenia Citrus, and Crystal Gardenia Oud. Today KKW Fragrance offers a variety of scents, including the famous KKW Body, a perfume that comes in a bottle shaped after Kim‘s curvy figure.

After KKW Fragrance, Kim launched KKW Beauty, the brand that made her join the billionaire club. Compared to her previous makeup brand, KKW Beauty offers high-performance formulas. Kim sold 20% of the company for $200 million to Coty.

Kim launched her shapewear brand Kimono and immediately sparked outrage after her appropriation of the word. After the rocky start, Kim renamed her business to Skims, and today is a multi-billion dollar brand.